The Trump administration attacks transgender people once again, this time by targeting gender-affirming clothing like that sold by TomboyX
I see London, I see France. I can see your underpants.
Actually, I can’t. But you can see mine. Go ahead and look: 99.9 percent of my underwear and bras are from TomboyX.
I found TomboyX while being treated for breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy which made my left breast incredibly sore. It’s still sore, in fact, a decade later. I also had a chemotherapy port in my chest which made wearing bras with thin straps uncomfortable. And then there was the radiation that made me feel like my chest was sunburned.
needed something comfortable. Something soft. Something that felt good after feeling bad for so long. TomboyX filled that need perfectly.
I can’t remember exactly how I discovered TomboyX, but I can tell you that I placed my first order for two bras and two pairs of underwear on Nov. 28, 2016. Coincidentally, my most recent order was placed on Nov. 28, 2025. There have been many orders in between.
I have tried just about everything that TomboyX makes, and, over the years, I’ve found what I like and don’t like. I prefer their Essentials Soft Bra over the racerback or bralette. I love their boxer briefs in 4-, 6- and 9-inch lengths. Their boy shorts and briefs are too short for me.
Their swim wear played a huge role in my recovery when I started going to aqua aerobics several times a week. That stopped during the height of COVID, and then the gym with the pool closed.
It was important to me to find swim wear that covered my upper back where I’d had melanoma removed. I had my first suit for years until it literally wore out from so much use.
But on the rare occasion that I do go swimming I still wear their 9-inch swim shorts and swim tank.
When I found TomboyX, their target audience seemed to be mostly queer women with a variety of body types. Over the years that audience has expanded to any gender and even more body types. They even have an entire gender-affirming line that includes packing and tucking underwear as well as compression tops.
Which is how they got the attention of the Trump administration.
In a video posted to Instagram, TomboyX CEO and Cofounder Fran Dunaway said she was “bewildered” and “outraged” to receive a warning letter from the FDA claiming that compression tops, also known as chest binders, are “a medical device and should be regulated.”
“We’ve got excellent legal counsel, and we’re going to be calm and measured in our responses,” Dunaway said. “We’ve been underestimated before, and it doesn’t end well for those doing the underestimating. So hang in there. We’re in this for the long haul and we’re going to meet it with clear eyes and a strong spine.
“We deserve to exist, and our ability to keep building and thriving is part of how we protect our community.”
According to The Advocate, about a dozen companies that sell similar items received the same letter.
Yes, the administration that claims to hate regulations because they “hurt” businesses by not letting them spew toxic waste into our neighborhoods (hello Love Canal), sell products that hurt people (goodbye metal-tipped lawn darts) or curb their ability to make reckless fiscal decisions (see the 2008 financial crisis) wants to regulate a particularly niche article of clothing.
Why? Because it is used by trans, genderqueer and gender-nonconforming people.
The FDA claims that the companies they’ve sent warning letters to are “illegally” marketing “breast binders for children.” TomboyX is not marketing anything to children. According to
The Advocate, neither are the other companies targeted.
This is not the FDA trying to protect people of any age from harm; this is the FDA perpetuating harm on an already marginalized group of people. It’s targeted harassment.
The Trump administration and the Republican Party (there is no daylight between the two, so it feels wrong to mention one without the other) have gone out of their way to tell trans people: You can’t use the bathroom. You can’t use the locker room. You can’t use preferred pronouns. You can’t use your preferred name. You can’t change your gender marker on your identification documents. You can’t be incarcerated in a gender appropriate facility. You can’t play sports. You can’t get medical care.
And now you can’t buy and wear an article of clothing that helps you feel comfortable in your body.
Essentially: You can’t exist.
And if you can’t exist, you can’t live. The end game is obvious.
If you don’t stand up proudly and loudly for transgender people, you are actively participating in their oppression and erasure. You’re also participating in your own. Anything they can take away from trans people they can, and eventually will, take away from you.
Oppression is a tool to gain, keep and consolidate power. If you oppose them, they won’t just come for your underwear. They will come for you.
D’Anne Witkowski is a writer living in Michigan with her wife and son. She has been writing about LGBTQ+ politics for nearly two decades. Follow her on Twitter @MamaDWitkowski.